Nasogastric Feeding Tube/Dobhoff Placement: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Management of Malnutrition During Radiation Therapy in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.

Background Radiation therapy (RT)-associated oral mucositis, xerostomia, thick mucoid saliva, nausea/vomiting, and loss of taste may result in significantly compromised oral intake in patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancers (HNC). Feeding tube placement allows patients to receive enteral nutrition and continue the planned course of treatment. Objectives RT-associated oral mucositis, xerostomia, and loss of taste may result in significantly compromised oral intake in patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancers.

Broad noncoding transcription suggests genome surveillance by RNA polymerase V.

Eukaryotic genomes are pervasively transcribed, yet most transcribed sequences lack conservation or known biological functions. In , RNA polymerase V (Pol V) produces noncoding transcripts, which base pair with small interfering RNA (siRNA) and allow specific establishment of RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) on transposable elements. Here, we show that Pol V transcribes much more broadly than previously expected, including subsets of both heterochromatic and euchromatic regions.

Mutation of herpesvirus thymidine kinase to generate ganciclovir-specific kinases for use in cancer gene therapies.

Understanding the functional and mechanistic properties of the multi-substrate herpes simplex virus type-1 thymidine kinase (HSV-1 TK) remains critical to defining its role as a major pharmacological target in herpesvirus and gene therapies for cancer. An inherent limitation of the activity of HSV-TK is the >70-fold difference in the K(m)s for phosphorylation of thymidine over the pro-drug ganciclovir (GCV). To engineer an HSV-1 TK isoform that is specific for GCV as the preferred substrate, 16 site-specific mutants were generated.

Kitchens as a source of Aspergillus niger infection.

In this study we investigated the epidemiology of a cluster of cutaneous infections owing to Aspergillus niger, which occurred in neutropenic patients in a bone marrow transplant unit. Heavy environmental contamination with the mould was found in the ward kitchen adjacent to the unit. The clinical and environmental isolates were typed by random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD), which showed one of the patients was infected with the same strain as that isolated repeatedly from the kitchen area.

"Pseudoclusters" and typing by random amplification of polymorphic DNA of Aspergillus fumigatus.

This short report serves as a warning to the unwary of possible "pseudoclusters" of infection with Aspergillus fumigatus as shown by the typing system, random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD). This was demonstrated by typing 10 epidemiologically distinct isolates of A fumigatus using two different preparations of Taq DNA polymerase. One of the enzymes did not discriminate between the isolates, giving the false impression that a cluster of infection had occurred.